The folks at the American Chemical Society (ACS) couldn't have stated the problem more succinctly or dramatically.

In a press release, the ACS stated, "Billions of pounds of plastic waste are littering the world’s oceans."

That's apparent from photos that depict the ocean plastic pollution problem in stark and vivid detail. It's not just an occasional bottle cap or container floating here or there. Huge amounts of discarded plastic materials have gathered in large masses. They might not be anywhere near your favorite beach, but it may only be a matter of time before they are.

Now a sailboat captain and Ph.D. chemist say that they are working on a process to recycle some of this plastic flotsam and, with the help of a compact mobile reactor, turn it into diesel fuel. It's possible that this process could one day pick up plastic from the ocean's surface and convert it into a fuel to power the boat that does the collecting.

The researchers presented their results last year at the 253rd National Meeting & Exposition of the ACS.

Authors

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Ana Embry-Congdon's writing began with a Quantcast Top 35 website, and over the years evolved to working exclusively with mid-large size companies providing professional copywriting and social media needs. Embry-Congdon studied journalism with an emphasis in public relations from California State University, Chico. She lives in Portland with her husband and toddler son.

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Jim began writing for newspapers and designing for publishing companies at a time when both industries were just beginning to make the switch from manual to digital platforms. Jim lives in Boulder, Colorado with his teenage son.

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Stephanie is a freelance writer and novelist whose work has appeared on NYPost.com, PSMag.com, the Intuit Small Business Blog, and many others. She is the Simon & Schuster author of 8 children's books, including the Piper Morgan chapter book series, 25 Roses, and 30 Days of No Gossip.